Major US offensive against Taliban

THOUSANDS of US Marines along with Afghan forces have launched the biggest military offensive against Taliban heartlands that will be the first test of the US military's new counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan and a real challenge to President Barack Obama's new war plan.

Although the mandarins of the White House may not like it, like Iraq was called Bush's war, Afghanistan can be termed as Obama's war given the attention the US President is devoting to the situation in that part of the world.

The US President recently changed the commander of the US forces, bringing in Lt Gen Stanley A McChrystal in place of Gen David McKiernan under whose command the US-Nato forces not only suffered many setbacks militarily but also came in for severe criticism for the increasing number of civilian casualties.

The massive Operation codenamed Khanjar, which western news agencies are wrongly translating as "Strike of the Sword" because Khanjar means dagger in Dari and Pastu, is targeting south down the Helmand River valley, deep into insurgent-held areas where foreign troops have failed to establish a presence despite ousting the Taliban from power in 2001.

Highlighting the new US strategy, a US commander said that the security needs of Helmand's residents came before killing Taliban.

A key component of the operation is winning the trust of the local Afghan population.

Company commanders have been ordered to set up shuras, or community councils, with the local populations within 24 hours of arriving in towns and villages.

"I want to make sure you understand ... we're attempting to seize the population. We're going to seize the population from the Taliban and never let them go," said Lieutenant-Colonel Christian Cabaniss, commander of the 2nd battalion, 8th Marines.

Gen McChrystal at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee while outlining his strategy had said that he will rely heavily on bolstering the intelligence collection in the country, reducing civilian casualties and dramatically speeding up the training of Afghan security forces.

"Success will not be quick or easy," Gen McChrystal said. "Casualties will likely increase." However, he made it clear that the only way to win this war was reducing civilian casualties. He told the Senate Committee that he would take extreme measures to reduce civilian casualties and added: "The measure of effectiveness will not be the number of enemy killed, it will be the number of Afghans shielded from violence."

Haroun Mir, political analyst and co-founder of the Afghanistan Centre for Research and Policy Studies in Kabul, also agrees with this view.

"This is what Gen McChrystal, I think, has grasped in Afghanistan — to reach out to Afghan people and try and bring them on board instead of alienating them," said Mir.

Of course, success will not be easy and the US must be prepared for a long-drawn battle. However, one factor which goes in favour of the US forces is the ongoing operation against the Taliban in Pakistan. Logistics and other support among the Taliban operating in two countries was a major source of sustenance to these elements. The operation by the Pakistani army against these forces in the areas bordering Afghanistan will certainly help the US operation in Afghanistan.